At least one Microsoft Store is reportedly taking a new tactic to try and spur Windows Phone adoption beyond its controversial contest. An admittedly second-hand report from technology blogger Dave Zatz has Microsoft's Tysons Corner store swapping any phone with web access, including basic feature phones, with a Windows Phone. Shoppers would normally get a phone on the spot, although rain checks are being honored and include a $10 gift card in return for the wait.

Tweetie developer Loren Brichter, now with Twitter, has a US patent application in review for the pull-to-refresh gesture common in many touchscreen apps, reports note. To get around the interface limitations of some devices, many apps -- such as the Facebook iOS app, or Twitter clients -- will let users "drag" a portion of the interface down to force a feed refresh. Some apps use the same gesture to trigger different commands.

If you’ve already read our review of the Defender Series Case for iPad 2, you’ll find this updated model very familiar, but it has been improved. There are still four pieces—a two-piece plastic frame, a rubber cover, and a plastic shield—however, the company has made quite a few changes to the overall design. It feels like a mostly refined take on the original, save for one key element. The heart of the case is still the two-piece…

We're generally satisfied with our internet performance, but we wouldn't say no to a speed boost. A Microsoft blog post reveals plans to enable just that, with the company's proposed "HTTP Speed + Mobility" approach to HTTP 2.0. Have you thought about what life would be like with a faster internet? MS says Y-E-S! "There is already broad consensus about the need to make web browsing much faster," the company proclaimed. Juicy. The suggested protocol will, well, focus on achieving greater speed, but Microsoft hasn't detailed exactly how it will accomplish that, beyond mentioning that it's based on the Google SPDY protocol, which on its own ai

It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world.
You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here.

In 2010 President Obama stated, in no uncertain terms, that our country's competitive edge and technological leadership were conditional on our ability to open up broad swaths of spectrum for commercial and governmental use. Two years later, we've m

Filter Squad has released Discovr People, a new app designed to help iOS users find new people to follow on Twitter. The app allows users to explore the world of Twitter users displaying an interactive, virtual map of connections between Twitter users based on their recent conversations. Users can enter a Twitter handle directly or tap on a person to see a map of similar people or double-tap on a person to view detailed information about them such…

SmugMug has released an update to Camera Awesome adding integration with Instagram and several other small enhancements. Released last month, Camera Awesome is an advanced camera app for the iPhone that emphasizes fast shooting, sharper and better-exposed pictures and quick and simple sharing of photos. Camera Awesome 1.0.3 now includes in-app tutorials, pinch-to-zoom and white balance lock along with improvements to the sharing interface and shot…

If you’ve already read our review of the Defender Series Case for iPad 2, you’ll find this updated model very familiar, but it has been improved. There are still four pieces—a two-piece plastic frame, a rubber cover, and a plastic shield—however, the company has made quite a few changes to the overall design. It feels like a mostly refined take on the original, save for one key element. The heart of the case is still the two-piece…

Video Star is a glitzy app that lets you record pop star-style videos using your iPhone or camera-enabled iPad. It's not a serious video recording and editing program, but a lightweight app that uses a variety of effects to spice things up.
Every good rock video must have music, and Video Star lets you import an audio track from your iTunes library on your phone. In fact, selecting the audio is the first thing you do when you create a new clip. You can tweak the audio clip by cropping it or adjusting the speed and the pitch. If you don't want audio, you can just skip this step.
Once the audio is selected, you can move on to the video making part of the app and for Video Star, it's all about the effects. You can choose bet

Mobile payments company Square has quietly updated its small white credit card reader with a battery and encryption. VentureBeat reports that perhaps in response to increasing pressure from PayPal, which recently announced that it will accept mobile payments using a similar, encrypted device, Square has started shipping all new readers with encryption. According to the report, it is unclear how much the new internals might cost; Square plans to migrate…

27.03.2012 23:00 Uhr

When Zynga announced that it bought OMGPOP, the developer of the newly minted hit Draw Something, a lot of people shared some frustration. Zynga has earned a reputation as a less-than-popular developer out there, and the fear is that Draw Something, which currently has a relatively simple charm, will get overloaded with social cruft and other nonsense. But at least one person out there has a real problem with the Zynga takeover: Developer Shay Pierce actually walked away from his job because of it.
His story is an interesting one, and he wrote it up over at Gamasutra earlier today.

Today we've got a special treat for you: not one, but two knockoff Galaxy Notes from across the Pacific. Both lack the raw power of Sammy's 5.3-inch device, and even knock the resolution down to a paltry 800 x 480. Our first contestant is rockin' only a 1GHz single-core processor and 512MB of RAM, but it's using those rather pedestrian components to push ICS through its little 9.7mm thick body. The second of today's pla

New RIAA music data has shown streaming music starting to get mainstream acceptance in the US. Although the number of those paying for subscription music services like Rdio, Slacker, and Spotify in 2011 was small at 1.8 million users, it represented an 18.9 percent boost over the year before. Revenue was up by a smaller rate, at 13.5 percent, as the faster paid subscriber rate was partly offset by free or low-cost users signing up.

Anyone looking for a nice, portable keyboard and MIDI controller to use with Garage Band or other music apps on their iPad can stop looking. Korg, a longtime manufacturer of electronic keyboards and other musically-oriented products, has announced two new members of the microKEY family of keyboards that work well with the iPad and Mac.
Joining the microKEY-37 (37 keys, US$79.99) are the ultra-portable microKEY-25 (25 keys, $69.99) and the expanded microKEY-61 (61 keys, $179.99). The 37 and 61-key models also serve as USB hubs, and al

It's easy for life to imitate art when you're armed with near billion dollar coffers. Taking a cue from his 1989 hit, The Abyss, James Cameron made a solo plunge down to the deepest part of the Earth -- a spot seven miles below sea level known as the Challenger Deep -- and recorded his journey in 3D for our slack-jawed, couchbound amusement. The terrain, described by Cameron as both "desolate" and "lunar," is part of the Mariana Trench and had remained unexplored by humanity since the Trieste first touched down in 1960. That two man crew, hampered by the technological advancements of the time, didn't have the luxury of capturing the undersea tr

German digital instrument company Korg has just expanded its microKEY range of USB keyboards. The microKEY-25 is a 25-key version of the existing microKEY-37, while the microKEY-61 is a much larger version. Both will ship with Korg's Legacy Collection Suite of synthesizer software.

Apple's VP for iPad product marketing, Michael Tchao, has responded to recent controversy surrounding the way the third-gen device handles charging. The executive tells AllThingsD that an iPad does indeed report 100 percent charge before it's actually finished, but that overcharging is not an issue. Once an iPad genuinely hits the 100 percent mark, it will discharge slightly and then recharge, repeating the cycle until the charge cable is disconnected.

Angry Birds developer Rovio Entertainment has announced the acquisition of Futuremark Games Studio. The gaming arm of Futuremark, developer of benchmarking software such as 3DMark and PCMark, Futuremark Games Studio produces games for the iOS, Mac and PC platforms including such titles as Unstoppable Gorg and Hungribles for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. Futuremark Games marks Rovio’s second acquisition over the past year, following the acquisition…

Looks like racking up those loyal points may just pay off in the near future, as Ma Bell's rolling out a new loyalty program dubbed AT&T Plus. The free service -- which is only available in Houston, Colorado and Minneapolis at the moment -- will let customers get tidbits such as a "personalized customer experience," with access to a special 1-855-ATTPLUS customer service line. Additionally, AT&T Plus users get a 25 percent discount on accessories (sorry, no iPhone or iPad add-ons) as well as waived activation and upgrade fees. AT&T's yet to say what you'll need to get a Plus party invite, but we'd imagine that staying away from

If the news of Apple's newly-granted patent on a SIM tray wasn't enough to get you all excited this morning, here's some additional patent news that should have bouncing up and down with delight. OK, maybe not, but Apple did secure a second patent today -- Number 8,14

Chances are you're still melting over the underpowered impressive HTC One X benchmarks, and that's just the dual-core Snapdragon S4 taking care of business. As you may know, those of you in the Old Continent will see a quad-core flavor hit the shelves, which theoretically should outperform its American sibling on any given day. So, just how much will you have to shell out to snag one of HTC's latest? Phones4U and Carphone Warehouse both have the One X listed as high as £329.99 (about $527) with a 24

Apple, along with Sony, HTC, LG, and Samsung, has been sued by Graphics Properties, which claims the various companies’ products infringes on its patents. Reuters reports that company—formerly known as Silicon Graphics—alleges that Apple and the other companies named in the suit infringe upon a patent related to a computer graphics process that turns text and images into pixels to be displayed on mobile screens. Named in the suit…

iSkin has debuted two new iPad cases as parts of a "Gravity Collection," and both adhere to the company's urban aesthetic focus. First up is Agent 6 Sling ($100), a small bag with a zip-open nylon body that has room for only an iPad; it's attached to a padded cross-body strap equipped with a carabiner, a detachable cable/charger-holding pouch, a D-ring, and an elastic-rimmed iPhone holder. Recon Sleeve ($70) is the other option, a padded nylon…

27.03.2012 22:00 Uhr

Dow Jones newswire reports that Sprint can to offer an iPhone that utilizes the 4G LTE broadband network -- whenever that phone exists, which given the LTE capabilities of the third-generation iPad, probably will be in the near future. Sprint's LTE network will be rolled out in six cities by midyear.
[Via MacRumors]Sprint would be able to offer LTE iPhone originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 27 Mar

Eager to get a taste of Ice Cream Sandwich while you wait for an update on your phone? Then you now have another option to do so relatively cheaply if you don't mind venturing into Coby's bargain bin of tablets. It's begun rolling out no less than six new slates to retail stores today (most of which we saw at CES in January), which pack screens ranging in size from seven to ten inches and each run Android 4.0. Specs are otherwise fairly identical across the board, with each boasting the same single-core 1GHz Cortex A8 processor, microSD card slot, front-facing cameras, HDMI out and either 4GB or 8GB of storage. Unfortunate

No guests this week, just us but we've got a quick and dirty podcast with news of TiVo's latest DVR plus some freshly updated iPad apps from Netflix and DirecTV. The Xbox 360 has its own new apps to deliver as well, while Sky is still creeping towards a different kind of pay-TV service with its upcoming Now TV. Home automation heads will be interested in the Motorola Connected Home Gateway that appears to be right around the corner, and we've also got a quick look at the latest legal developments for Aereo. Finally, we'll check in with the latest TV and Blu-ray releases this week -- press play and see if we can get Ben caught up on Game of Thrones in time for the season premiere. Get the podcast [

Apple has quietly added $124.99 and $174.99 price tiers as options on the App Store, developers note. The change was announced via an email sent to iTunes Connect users. The new tiers can apply to both apps and in-app purchases; Apple notes that developers take home $87.50 or $122.50, respectively, after Apple's 30 percent cut of revenue and other deductions.

Sprint CFO Joe Euteneuer at a Barclays Capital conference speech revealed that his company's iPhone deal would let it carry an LTE model at any given time. He wouldn't be drawn into confirming any timing, but he told Dow Jones and others that the deal was like that for other US carriers and didn't require a certain minimum of LTE coverage. Sprint's LTE will switch on mid-year with just six cities, which some had taken as a sign that Apple might pass on Sprint in favor of the more complete AT&T and Verizon networks.

Oceanhouse Media has released Picture Me Cuddly as a Bunny, a new app for iOS devices that allows users to create personalized omBooks featuring children in their own cuddly as a bunny dress-up story. Parents can take new pictures directly in the app or select photos from the iOS photo library to place their children in adorable baby animal costumes such as a cuddly bunny, wooly lamb, Dalmation puppy and more. Children can then flip through the story…

Yesterday's rumor about Sony launching PlayMemories Studio this week has just become fact. The $15 editing suite has just gone live on the PlayStation Store, enabling plebes to edit, organize and share photos (and video) right on their home console of choice, the PS3. Those with a spare Vita or PSP laying around ca

For those who might not know the background details, here’s a brief primer. The Musical Instrument Digital Interface standard, more commonly known as MIDI, enables accessories such as electronic piano keyboards, synthesizers, and drum machines to interface with each other and computer software for recording and editing of compositions. Rather than sending out actual audio streams, MIDI devices operate by sharing digital information—notes,…

If you're familiar with Alltop, you'll know that the site touts itself as being able to answer the question "What's Happening?" rather than answering questions like "How many people use Macs?" The site, which author and former Apple marketing guru Guy Kawasaki has been involved in, now has a new iPad app available on the App Store. Alltop for iPad (Free) provides an iPad-friendly way to get the latest news, plucked fresh from the RSS feeds of over 35,000 sites and curated by the Alltop staff.
The ad-supported app (don't worry -- the ads are just in a strip at the bottom of the page) does a wonderful job of fitting a lot of information into the screen of an iPad. If you have a MyAlltop.com user

Google's long-upcoming Google Drive might be close to a real launch after leaks on Tuesday. The cloud storage service was slated by GigaOm sources to be coming during the first week of April. It would potentially be a step back from Dropbox, providing 1GB for free instead of 2GB and thus bringing more people into the paid version.

27.03.2012 21:00 Uhr

Coming up with original gadget names is tough work, and, after all, imitation is the most sincere form of flattery -- right? So it was no surprise when ASUS happened upon an alias that more than slightly resembled that of a popular fictional mutant semi -- you know, Transformer Optimus Prime. However shockingly, Hasbro wasn't a fan, opting to battle ASUS to the death in the U.S. court system. And, after countless weeks and many bank holidays, we finally have a victor. It appears that the leader of the Autobots will continue to share it

Apple and a few other big electronics companies are facing yet another lawsuit, this time from a company called Graphics Properties, formerly known as Silicon Graphics. These patents target a process that turns text and images into pixels for display on mobile screens, and Silicon Graphics is claiming that Apple, Sony, HTC, LG, and Samsung are all infringing on its patent rights.
The company already filed for bankruptcy a couple of years ago, but its filings with the court say that unless these companies stop selling devices using technology it claims to have developers, it will "suffer irreparable harm." Obviously, neither Apple or any of the other companies had a comment to share, as they

Seems like it was only yesterday that Microsoft took the wraps off version 1.0 of Kinect for Windows, putting the power of voice and gesture controls in the hands of the hoi polloi. Now, the gang in Redmond has said that version 1.5 will be coming in May, and will bring 10-joint skeletal tracking to let the sensor bar work while users are seated. The update also includes Kinect Studio, an app that allows devs to record, play and debug clips of users to fine tune their applications. Additionally, it brings language support for French, Spanish, Italian and Japanese, plus there's added support for regional dialects in those languages and English as well. Lastly, Microsoft is promising a whole slew of new countries around the globe will be getting Kin

In an interview with AllThingsD, Apple VP Michael Tchao has explained in some detail the charging process on the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch. According to Tchao, all iOS devices do in fact display a 100 percent charge just prior to reaching a complete charge, at which point it will continue charging to 100 percent, then discharge slightly and charge back up, repeating the process for as long as the device is connected. “That circuitry is designed…

TUAW's been all over the nano-SIM battle being waged in the hallowed halls of the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), pitching Apple against the evil triumvirate of Nokia, Motorola, and RIM. Now, just coincidentally, Apple has received

Feel like you aren't connecting with the people you video chat with? A team from Osaka University has developed a robotic hand that'll start a chat by gripping your paw with the warmth and firmness of a rugby player. Assembled from silicone and sponge, the researchers fitted a film heater to keep the electrical extremity at 37 degrees Celsius -- the theory being that if its warmer than your own hand, you're more predisposed toward it. Future plans for the mechanical metacarpus include a

Clue's in the headline, really. Car makers BMW and Toyota have finally gotten around to confirming that they're pairing up to research next generation lithium-ion batteries. The focus will be on building environmentally friendly technologies that'll boost the power of future EVs. The duo will also examine new ways of combining materials to build better cathodes, anodes and electrolytes. As part of the deal, Toyota will be buying diesel engines for its European subsidiary from its Teu

We've noticed an interesting change at the US iTunes store this week. "Free on iTunes," a popular section found in both the Quick Links and in its own front page section, has gone MIA. It's been replaced by a "Free Book" offer for the Beatle's Yellow Submarine adaptation in Quick Links and removed entirely from the main store page.
Apple's "Inside iTunes" help page, which helps you find free content on iTunes, remains active and has not yet been updated. We've contacted Apple PR for a statement to see if this a one-off week or a new policy change but have yet to hear

Novatech has just put its own spin on the Ultrabook theme, outing its new nFinity line of svelte, 14-inch, portables. The base model is driven by an i3 chip, 2GB of RAM, and 64GB of SSD storage, for a £430 (about $687) asking price. If you want a little more pep, however, there are naturally i5 and i7 options too (£580 / $926 and £699 / $1,117 respectively), both of which get a RAM upgrade to 4GB, and double the SSD at 128GB. There are a few things which might dampen your purchasing flame, such as the lack of USB3.0, and perhaps the plastic finish. But

Today's deals from DealNN include discounted iPad cases, headphones, and more. Buy.com has now lowered the cost of the Philips Case with Rubber TPW Edges and Stand for iPad, which consists of a hard-shell case with wrap-around grips, support for all iPad models, and an integrated stand for hands-free viewing. Currently featured at DealNN, this iPad case is now available for the low price of $2.99 and offers savings of up to 90%.

Apple and Motorola faced off in a court hearing in Düsseldorf, Germany earlier today, Dow Jones reports. Motorola is being sued by Apple over three different design concepts, as well as alleged violation of a competition law. Specifically Apple is upset over the Motorola Xoom, which it says imitates the first-generation iPad with only minor design differences. Motorola is exploiting Apple's reputation unfairly, Apple counsel told the court.

Rovio is on fire right now. Last week, it launched Angry Birds Space and logged an impressive ten million downloads in three three days. Now, the company announced it has used some of its cash to acquire benchmark software maker Futuremark Games Studio, says a report in Venture Beat.
Mikael Hed, Rovio Entertainment's CEO, praised Futuremark and said in a statement, "They are an incredibly talented and experienced team, and we are thrilled to have them on board." He added that "Rovio's success is founded on the excellence of our team, and Futuremark Games Studio is going to be a superb addition."
This i

When it rains Archos tablets, it pours Archos tablets. A day after The Arnova A9 G3 tablet strutted its way through the commission's approval process and into our hearts, two more members of the line the are ready for their cold, governmental closeups. Archos's Arnova 7F G3 and 8C G3 have also found their way onto the the FCC's site, carrying on the company's long standing policy of making a heck of a lot of tablets -- these ones, most likely, are set to serve as the seven and eight-inch counterparts to their slightly larger, slightly older sibling.

New rumors have surfaced claiming that Amazon will have a much wider strategy for its next-generation Kindle Fire tablets than thought. Taiwan Economic News claimed that the 8.9-inch version would be joined by two seven-inch models. One would have the 1024x600 display of the original, while a high-end version would get a 1280x800 display; the 8.9-inch version would supposedly have a 1920x1200 screen and thus compete even with the new iPad for pixel density.

In what's likely a proactive bid to prevent its one-note franchise from crashing down into unpopular orbit, Rovio's spreading its wings beyond that flock of malcontent fowl and adding to its in-house development team. Helping further speed its forward merchandising momentum is the Finnish company's recent acquisition of Futuremark Game Studios -- formerly an offshoot of benchmarking outfit Futuremark. The small developer, while nowhere near as successful as its new parent company, has a trio of titles,

iHome’s new iD50 ($170) has been deliberately engineered as a small step down from the iA100, with a streamlined chassis and fewer frills that probably won’t be missed by most users. The iA100 featured a matte black body with silver edges, fabric speaker grilles, and a big, bright clock face in the center. iD50 has all of that, too. FM radio, dual alarms, and Bluetooth support for stereo audio streaming and monaural speakerphone modes?…

Anxiously awaiting the arrival of those brand spanking new apps for your Xbox 360 console? Well, the wait is over. Video apps for Comcast Xfinity TV, HBO Go and MLB.tv have arrived on a number of consoles here at Engadget HQ. Major Nelson dropped the official word a little while ago, leaving you mere moments away from live and on demand television and baseball just in time for the start of the season. Keep in mind all three of these high profile applications feature Kinect integration -- but don't worry, you won't be forced to swing any bats in your living room. If you're looking for more info, details on the HBO Go and MLB.tv

Square readers have just been upgraded to offer hardware encryption, VentureBeat found. The company is planning on upgrading existing readers without hardware encryption to the new ones. The new security measure will encrypt credit card numbers as they are sent from the reader to the app on the mobile device, keeping it secure even before it needs to go online.

As a part of his visit to Beijing on Monday, Apple CEO Tim Cook also met with Guo Jinlong, the mayor of Beijing, a local newspaper reports. The exact details of the encounter are unknown, but it's suggested he talked about expanding markets, and cooperating more closely with Beijing in the future. Yesterday Apple would only say that Cook was in the country to talk with "Chinese officials" about expanding operations in the region; he was nevertheless spotted at the Xidan Joy City Apple Store in Beijing.

Parks Associates surveyed 482 iPhone 4S owners and found that 87 percent of respondents use voice assistant Siri at least once a month. Most people (55 percent) are satisfied with the service and use it to make phone calls and send text messages. About a third of users, however, are not using all of Siri's features like playing music, sending email and scheduling appointments.
If you fit the above profile and you're not sure what else you can do with Siri, check out this lengthy primer to the service by our own Erica Sadun.
[Via

You know that rumor that cropped up right before the release of the third-generation iPad, about it not having a Home button? It wasn’t as silly as it sounded, thanks to Multitasking Gestures, a hidden iPad/iOS 5 feature that you can take advantage of right now. Simply open the Settings app, tap on General, and turn on the slider for Multitasking Gestures. Once it’s on, you’ll be able to use four or five fingers to pinch your…

Along with a handful of other cases, X-Doria has introduced its SmartStyle ($60), a folio compatible with both the iPad 2 and the third-generation iPad. This case has a traditional plastic shell with a leather front cover that's rather thin, but the combination offers as much protection as it can short of covering the ports and buttons. The cover has a trifold setup reminiscent of Apple's Smart Cover, and just like that lid, it folds into a triangle…

For those unaware, going at it alone in the cutthroat display business isn't exactly a recommended business approach. To wit, Sharp -- once a mainstay in the LCD industry -- has just sold an approximate 10 percent stake of itself to Taiwan's Hon Hai Group. Sharp will be issuing new shares worth $808 million to Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., and we're told that it'll go down as the largest investment ever in a Japanese company by a Taiwanese one. Moreover, Hon Hai will grab half of Sharp's 92.96 percent stake in its LCD panel factory in Sakai, Japan. Though it may not be obvious, seeing Sharp accept this fate is hugely symbolic, and it's happening just as the

That moment when you physically hurt your ear by mashing your cellphone up against it in a futile bid to hear the person on the other end. That's the very moment that RIM's gunning to make history with its latest patent, which was filed way back in November of 2007 but just granted today. The BlackBerry-maker's patent describes an adjustable acoustic speaker output "based on an estimated degree of seal of an ear about a speaker port" -- effectively a system where the volume can automatically increase if a handset jostles further from your ear. Not surprisingly, the description details "at least one touch sensor" used for detecting the distance between one's ear and the device, and the connecting method of adjusting the audi

Incipio is beginning its rollout of cases for the third-generation iPad with Lexington ($40), a simple folio that's available now in limited color options. Comprised of a hard matte plastic shell covered in faux leather, the latter material wraps around to form a front cover as well. We're happy to see that this case offers full edge protection, unlike some of the iPad 2 cases we've previously reviewed from this company. The tab and buckle system…

Adobe is following Apple's lead with OS X 10.7 Lion and ending support for 32-bit Macintosh systems. Starting with Adobe Photoshop CS6, Mac users must have a 64-bit, multi-core system with at least OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard.
If you have a Core 2 Duo or a Core iX system then you should be ready for the next version of Photoshop when it is released. If you have a Core Duo or older machine, then you should stay with CS5 and not upgrade to CS6.
If you are not sure about your hardware, then check out this Apple support document which'll tell how to find out whether you

Looks like OnStar's finally ready to go live with the Family Link program it was talking up last summer. The service, which lets family members track vehicles for the low, low price of $3.99 (on-top of an existing OnStar package), is set to begin a phased rollout next month. Family Link revolves around two primary, similarly named features: Vehicle Locate and Vehicle Location Alert. The first lets concerned relatives view the vehicle's location on a map and the second sends an alert at a chosen interval, letting the vehicle's location be known via text or email. The initial roll out will be open to select subscribers in Apri

Those working on life-changing uses for NFC in phones will now find it even harder to explain why life still hasn't changed. According to Berg Insight, annual global sales of NFC-equipped handsets increased ten-fold to reach 30 million units in 2011 and are forecast to grow to 700 million units by 2016. The analysts attribute this rise to general smartphone adoption rather than to demand for NFC as such, which makes sense from where we're sitting. Aside from a few proximity-based apps,

27.03.2012 17:00 Uhr

Earlier this year, TeleNav launched a free Scout app and promised an online, HTML5 navigation service. Perhaps those weren't gaining enough momentum, because TeleNav is now offering the service to developers, who can embed TeleNav's turn-by-turn Scout.me services into their apps. Read more about Scout for Apps using HTML5 on the TeleNav blog.
Apparently the first to do this will be the Yellow Pages app. TeleNav's developer blog has a few more details, although no mention of cost to developers. Instead, there's a mention that "you

Samsung trotted out a cluster of new video shooters back at CES, including a refresh of its hand-impartial HMX-Q10 movie maker. Now, it looks like sinister filmmakers can finally get their (left) paws on the WiFi enabled QF20. The debut also brings with it mention of a few minor details that we didn't hear about in Vegas, namely an on board "BGM" background music tool, a 230,000 pixel count on the LCD viewfinder, and news that the sensor is a 5-megapixel BSI CMOS affair. If this sounds like the answer to

If not for Leap Day, Apple would've seen this one granted a year to the day after it was filed; as it stands, 365 days will just have to do. At any rate, Apple has not only managed to secure a patent this fine morning for an ejectable SIM tray, but also one for an antenna isolation apparatus. In simple(ish) terms, the patent details an antenna structure in a portable electronic device that's comprised of "first, second, and third resonating elements aligned along a common axis parallel to a ground plane," with a multiple-arm, multiple-frequency design taking shape. It's also pretty clear that the intention here is to reduce radio-frequency interference between the an

PC Magazine editor Sascha Segan took a closer look at Android tablet apps and compared them to their iOS counterparts. He looked at the top apps for each platform and concludes that Android tablets have most of the big name apps found on iOS, but the quality of the Android version isn't as good as the iOS version. He says many of these top Android apps are ugly and have a design suitable for a narrow screen, not the large real estate of a tablet.
Games, however, were an exception. Segan concludes that Android games aren't that bad, there's just fewer of them. Fragmentation is also a problem with different operating systems and different size devices like the Kindle Fire actually hindering development.
You can read his two-page

Apple is advertising a new job listing which could be connected to a new data center in Prineville, Oregon, Wired reports. The company is hiring a data center construction project manager, who will nominally be based out of Cupertino, California, but have to travel to a project site. "As Appleís new products and services expand and grow, so too does the need for more servers and server space to house them, Data Centers," the listing reads. "The candidate selected for this position will become an important part of the Apple team responsible for the design and constru

It's been a long time coming, but the Harry Potter books are finally available from the Pottermore store in eBook form. This means you can finally put Potter on your iPad! There are also audiobooks available, but the CD's were out long ago and these are just digital downloads. Still, it's very nice to have these in a digital format at last.Harry Potter books now available for iPad, other eReaders originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 27 Mar 2012 10:10:0

The Hunger Games may have had a heck of an opening weekend, but let's not forget who the top box office spot belongs to: a certain bespectacled boy wizard. Roughly a decade and half after the publication of the first book in the series -- and after several months of promises -- the ultra-popular series has finally made its way onto e-readers like the Kindle and Nook. A couple of days after announcing the rather pricey Wizard's Collection, J.K. Rowling's books have hit the Pottermore site, priced at $8 to $10. The books

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has announced plans to file a complaint against Apple for alleged contraventions of the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) based on the company’s marketing of the third-generation iPad with Wi-Fi + 4G. The announcement reads, “The ACCC alleges that Apple’s recent promotion of the new ‘iPad with WiFi + 4G’ is misleading because it represents to Australian consumers that…

Tim Cook was spotted in a Beijing Apple store on Monday and a report from a Chinese newspaper says the Apple CEO also met with Guo Jinlong, mayor of Beijing, later that day. Details about the meeting are not known, but it is thought he talked about market expansion and working more closely in the future with the Chinese city.
Apple spokesperson Carolyn Wu confirmed Cook's trip to China and said, "Tim is in China meeting with government officials. China is very important to us and we look forward to greater investment and growth here."
[Via Computerworld]

We're guessing it's just coincidental timing here, but it looks as if Apple has been granted a patent surrounding "ejectable component assemblies" that are designed to be "flush with the external surfaces of the housings of the devices, despite variations in their manufacture." In other words, a SIM card tray. Granted, there's no specific verbiage in the independent claims of this one letting us know what exact size we're talking about, so it's highly unlikely that a patent application filed in December of 2010 (but granted today) would be directly referencing the

27.03.2012 16:00 Uhr

That LG Lucid we've heard so much about lately? Yep, it's real, and Verizon is now ready to publicly acknowledge its existence.The LTE-capable device lays more in the mid-range, but for $80 (with a two-year commitment and after a $50 mail-in rebate) you're getting a 4-inch display covered in Gorilla Glass, 1.2GHz dual-core CPU, 1GB of RAM, 5MP rear-facing camera with 1080p video capture and a front-facing cam of unknown resolution. And for the folks keeping track at home, the Lucid will be shipping with Gingerbread installed, though Verizon is quick to admit that ICS is in the works. Sound like your cup o' tea? You won't have to wait long -- it's heading your way on Ma

Logitech has introduced its first speaker to support Apple’s AirPlay wireless audio streaming technology. Dubbed the UE Air Speaker, it features dual tweeters and subwoofers, an integrated, pop-out dock, a 3.5mm auxiliary input, built-in Wi-Fi for AirPlay, and quick setup via the UE Air app. Notably, the system is the first we’ve seen from Logitech to leverage the company’s Ultimate Ears brand. The Logitech UE Air Speaker will be…

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission says Apple is misleading customers when it advertises the iPad as a 4G device, says a report in the Sydney Morning Herald. Though marketing promotes the device as 4G, there are no Australian carriers which support the iPad's 4G technology.
The ACCC is taking Apple to court and seeking "injunctions, pecuniary penalties, corrective advertising and refunds to consumers affected" writes the Sydney Morning Herald. A federal court in Melbourne will hear the ACC's petition Wednesday morning.
[Via

Hard to believe we're mere months from learning all about Android 5.0, and the lion's share of Android devices haven't even heard of v4.0. That said, Samsung already promised that its polarizing Galaxy Note would be grabbing ICS in the second quarter of this year, and it looks as if the company's designers already have an inkling as to what that'll look like. Shown here at Samsung Mobile USA's official Facebook portal, we have one Galaxy Note sporting Ice Cream Sandwich, but

Yesterday in the MacNN forums dedicated MacNNer ClaraT started a thread asking if there was any downside to updating to iOS 5.1 on an iPhone 4S, click here to read more. Today the conversation continues in the thread titled "two sleeping questions" where members discuss the sleep function in OS X Lion.

For a limited time at Apple's online store save on refurbished iPods like the 8GB iPod nano, in green, pink, orange, blue, black and silver, now only $99 after a $30 price drop. Or for $119, after a 20% discount is the 16GB iPod nano in silver, pink, black, or blue. Refurbished iPod touch models currently start at $169 for the 8GB iPod touch, originally released in September 2010. Or save $120 on the 64GB iPod touch from September 2009, now $249.

JK Rowling's own Pottermore store became the first to carry Harry Potter e-books on Tuesday. The shop has all seven novels in ePub format. The files are unprotected and will work with iPads and other iOS devices along with Android hardware and anything else that takes standard ePub files; Kindle users get their own file format for support.

In the Apple realm, IK Multimedia is best known for its music apps and accessories such as microphones and mixers. iKlip Studio ($30) is a simpler option, a new tablet stand designed to complement those other products and work with any generation of iPad. Folded flat, it measures roughly 6" by 8.5", and has plastic snaps at the top to hold a second panel in place. Unsnapping the panel reveals seven different openings for varied viewing angles, with…

Cupertino honored Steve Jobs by posthumously awarding him the 2012 President's Award. The award was presented during the city's Chamber of Commerce STAR Awards ceremony this past Saturday, says a report in Patch.
The annual STAR awards recognize citizens who are exceptional in their community service work or leadership. The recipient of the President's Award is decided by Chamber president John Zirelli, a general manager at waste management company Recology. Michael Foulkes, Apple's senior manager for state and local government affairs, accepted the honor on Jobs's behalf.
[Via

You knew it was coming, and now Microsoft's ready to make MLB.tv on your Xbox 360 official. Just like previous sporting efforts on the console, Redmond's gone and built a custom layer atop a partner's content in hopes of creating a richer and more immersive experience. A premium MLB.tv subscription still applies here, which'll grant you

AT&T has begun trying out a new reward program for subscribers. AT&T Plus gives those who qualify a priority number for help. Multiple discounts also take effect, including waivers on activation for a second line and device upgrades as well as 25 percent price cuts on all non-Apple accessories.

The importance of privacy has been dwindling for quite some time, and smartphones have become one of the biggest culprits. Allegations against Carrier IQ, location-based tracking, the recent concerns about Path snatching up iOS address book information -- all of these are just a few examples of mobile carriers and other wireless companies taking our personal data, selling it to the highest bidder (or using it for their own purposes) and not bothering t

Menial's manager for SQLite 3 database files adds a new visual pragma editor, line numbers displayed in data tables, improved support for importing and exporting UTF-16 data, more SQLite options (FTS4, Soundex and STAT3), and other improvements.

The multi-platform, open source media player and hub gains dynamic runtime detection of CPU features for Mac OS X, improved Apple VDADecoder Video Acceleration support, support for add-ons to provide their own web interfaces, rollback for add-ons, support for multiple web interfaces, a faster JPEG decoder, and much more.

Recent changes in Mindwrap's scan-to-PDF application include support for the Fujitsu fi-6130Z, an option to specify a delay between page insertion and scanning for DocketPORT scanners, and a fix for a bug that prevented proper page selection using thumbnails in PDF documents in Lion.

ExactCODE's document scanning application adds support for new scanners, improved support for some scanners, improved OCR performance, fixes for multi-page RTF, HTML and Unicode text files, and other improvements.

Eternal Storms Software's drag-and-drop assistant gets content previews in place of icons, the ability to exclude specified frontmost applications from triggering Yoink, support for color drags from color wells, support for hot keys with modifiers, and other changes.

Microcad Software's kitchen design program gains a cabinet catalog in centimeters (joining the existing catalog in inches), new types of cabinets and doors in both catalogs, enhanced performance and stability, and some bug fixes.

Adobe Lightroom 4 is now shipping at half the old price, just $149! And Amazon has good discounts across the Mac line-up, from MacBook Airs to MacBook Pros, Mac Minis through iMacs to Mac Pros. *Plus*, while you're saving yourself money, you're simultaneously providing critical support to the MacInTouch website, at no cost to you, just by clicking through any of our links to make purchases!

Foxconn under its Hon Hai Group name and Sharp have together struck a deal that will primarily help Sharp improve its performance. Sharp will agree to use more third-party parts in its manufacturing in return for Foxconn taking a 46.5 percent stake in Sharp's Sakai, Japan LCD plant, equaling Sharp's stake after including an existing seven percent Sony involvement. Both companies would share research work and form a "global" alliance that would let Sharp use Foxconn's production.

Fu Chunli, who downloaded the 25 billionth app from the App Store (yes, 25 billionth), was flown from her hometown of Qingdao, China to the Beijing Apple Store. Chunli has dubbed the "Apple Girl" by Chinese media, and didn't believe Apple representatives when they first shared the good news. Today she's basking in her luck, picking up a $10,000 gift card. She's one lucky customer.
Apple's marketing department is lucky, too. The company has been pushing for growth in China, and here an attractive Chinese customer, the "Apple girl," wins a high-profile

We've been eagerly anticipating the full-on release of BlueStacks' App Player, so imagine our excitement, now that the software has officially made the leap from its brief alpha stage to "beta-1" status. If you'll recall, the App Player can virtually run over 450k Android apps on Windows XP, Vista and 7, all without developers needing to tweak their respective coding. Notably, this latest build has a host of updates including LayerCake, allowing x86-based machines run apps written for

27.03.2012 14:00 Uhr

AT&T's Galaxy S II was probably feeling a little left out in the cold when its younger, LTE-gifted sibling got its ICS coat early. Fortunately, yet another software upgrade has broken cover, courtesy of Rootzwiki. Like anyone who's wrestling with the Skyrocket leak yesterday, those with some know-how of Ice Cream builds and Odin installations -- or just plain desperate for the very latest Google OS -- can hit the source for those necessary files.[Thanks Mike]

Nestled at the head of Fujifilm's FinePix camera family, the X-Pro1 has now been coccooned in luxury. If you baulked at the $1,700 body-only price tag, you probably won't be interested in this limited edition Globe-Trotter case kit. The tan leather suitcase houses a complete X-Pro1 system, including an external flash, 18mm f/2, 35mm f/1.4 and 60mm f/2.4 lens. As is often the case with these pricey collections, there's just 12 sets to go around and you'll have to charter your private jet for London -- they're only available at Harrods.

27.03.2012 13:00 Uhr

Look, how many bits you choose to process in the privacy of your own home is entirely your business, but don't expect the latest Photoshop to work on anything less than a 64-bit multi-core Mac running a minimum of Snow Leopard. Adobe's update brings a compute-heavy 'Mercury Graphics Engine' as well as better 3D and video manipulation, with the sacrifice of 32-bit support unless you're running Windows -- although even then certain features will be limited. The message is clear: jump on the upgrade treadmill or sacrifice 65 user-feedback-inspired features and a new crop too

Following an inadvertent pre-listing on Amazon UKís website as far back as October, Logitech has formally unveiled its new UE Air Speaker with AirPlay streaming support. The device supports uncompressed streaming from iTunes, as well as iOS devices connected to home networks. The shelf speaker system creates a large soundstage by employing dual tweeters and woofers.

Windows Phone may be picking up the pace in the hardware department thanks to some Nokia know-how, but the platform still lags behind its competition in the apps department. Team Redmond and team Espoo are taking steps to remedy that dearth of software, however, with their new AppCampus development program. The program will call Finland's Aalto University home, and is being created to provide design and technological support in addition to business coaching to help app developers build quality apps that make money. (Sound

There's fashionably late and then there's Boeing 787 Dreamliner late -- something that the folks at Japan Airlines learned firsthand following a three-year delay for the highly anticipated aircraft. Fortunately for JAL, the delay wasn't quite on the Duke Nukem Forever scale as the carrier finally got its first set of shiny, new Dreamliners this week. That's two down and 43 more to go for JAL, which no longer has to make hungry eyes at that first 787 that rival All Nippon Airways got

Apple has been accused of misleading advertising by Australiaís consumer watchdog the ACCC over its promotion of the new iPad as having 4G capabilities, as no Australian telco currently supports the 4G radio in the new iPad. The ACCC plans to lodge an urgent case before a Melbourne court tomorrow over the issue. It aims to seek ëinjunctions, pecuniary penalties, corrective advertising and refunds to consumers affected.í

Kazuo Hirai doesn't officially grab the reins as Sony's CEO and President until April 1st, but in reality he's already at the stirrups. He's making a number of exec-level switches that he hopes will deliver "rapid and optimized decision-making processes as 'One Sony'." His strategy? An inner circle consisting of himself and fellow reformers -- such as CFO Masaru Kato -- who will engage with department heads and, you know, make 'em do stuff faster. Di

The AirPlay market doesn't seem to be shrinking anytime soon, giving Logitech ample opportunity to tread on ground already marked by the likes of JBL and Klipsch. This morning, the outfit's introducing the Logitech UE Air Speaker with AirPlay technology, enabling uncompressed audio streams to flow from one's iTunes library, iPad, iPhone or iPod touch right to the home stereo. You'll need both the boombox and your AirPlay source

An alleged Magenta-branded memo's managed to find its way out of store lockup and land at the TmoNews offices, revealing some not-so-good news for potential future customers. Per the leaked document, T-Mobile's about to hike the price on its 5GB and 10GB Promotional Bundles data plans, starting as soon as April 4th. The changes would slap an extra $5 monthly fee on each Classic plan, boosting the 5GB to $35 / $40 and the 10GB to $65 / $70, however it'd only apply to customers signing up after the aforementioned April date. Perhaps, it's all part of T-Mo's "

A new survey from Baird Equity Research paints an even brighter picture for Apple's iPad, with nearly 40 percent of a sample of 488 US citizens saying they plan on buying either the new iPad or the discounted iPad 2 in the next three months. In a similar group of non-US respondents, 51 percent indicated that one of the two current iPads models were in their short-term future. The poll's sample was said to be a "younger, tech-savvier group on average."

Even as Apple has broken ground on a new server farm project in Oregon, a job listing posted by the company references plans for the "design and construction implementation of the next generation of data centers."

The One X is not officially here yet. That hasn't stopped someone from putting the new superphone through the benchmarking wringer, however. Turns out, that dual-core Snapdragon S4 SoC may be all it's cracked up to be, as screencaps have popped up online showing scores that blow away damn near every mobile device under the sun. Apparently, an AT&T employee put the One X through its paces, and if the scores are to be believed, it smoked the Galaxy Nexus in Quadrant and handily outperformed ev

Ok, we'll admit it. We're suckers for maps. We like looking at maps, figuring stuff out with maps, and learning new things by studying maps. That's one of the reasons that Andrei Kolev's The World Clock iOS application made us smile. The World Clock runs on all the iOS devices that we could lay our hands on: an iPod touch, an iPhone, and all three iPad models. It's nice on the small

Among the many maps app available on the App Store, The World Clock fills addresses a unique niche. The app provides a real-time day/night map, time zone information across the globe, and an e-mail utility that enables users to send event invites with time tables that represent the event time for each invitee's location, among other features. In our full review, we test the app's usefulness as a tool for international collaboration.

Apple's late CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs was posthumously honored with the President's Award at the Cupertino Chamber of Commerce at a banquet held over the weekend, the Palo Alto Patch reports. Apple spokesman Michael Foulkes was on hand to accept the award and was a bit choked up in thanking the chamber following a short tribute video that combined photos of Jobs with video of his last presentation to the City Council.

Microsoft has confirmed via multiple mainstream media outlets that today is the day for several more high-profile video apps to appear on its Xbox 360, namely Comcast Xfinity TV, HBO Go and MLB.tv. There's not a lot of detail on the apps themselves, although the HBO Go and MLB.tv services are familiar due to their availability on other platforms, while we've already heard the Xfinity TV app will mirror the experience and content already seen on the PC. All three naturally include significant Kinect

27.03.2012 7:00 Uhr

Shortly after introducing its entry-level TX-NR515 and TX-NR616 receivers, Onkyo is taking the wraps off of a fresh pair of souped-up, pricier AV boxes. Both part of the TX-NR family, the TX-NR717 ($999) and TX-NR818 ($1,119) are carrying on the 7.2-channel audio tradition seen on their lower-priced siblings, while a Qdeo processor handles all video upscaling duties -- yes, 4K included. The 3D-ready couple is also packing THX Select 2 Plus certification, a whopping eight HDMI ports on each box, DTS-HD Master Audio / Dolby TrueHD decoding and a revamped 1080p GUI.

It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world.
You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here.

Ahead of a European standards-setting organization vote on competing nano-SIM proposals from Nokia and Apple, the Finnish handset maker has dismissed Apple's offer of royalty-free licenses as seemingly "no more than an attempt to devalue the intellectual property of others."

A commission in the House of Commons in the UK will be deciding soon if all Ministers of Parliament (MPs) receive an iPad, reports the BBC. The Administration Committee believes that the device, even above other competing tablets, could save British taxpayers money despite the cost of providing all 650 MPs in both houses with the devices, which could cost as much as $415,000 not including cellular data.

A pair of rumors have four major Windows PC builders coming back after a hard 2011. Acer and ASUS were said by Digitimes to be both avoiding the traditional post-holiday slump. ASUS was purportedly seeing a PC shipment drop of 10 percent, or half as much as it had expected, while Acer was not only expected to match the roughly six million PCs shipped in the fall but possibly exceed the amount, up to 6.2 million.

27.03.2012 6:00 Uhr

Voodoo PC founder and former HP veteran Rahul Sood in a commentary put Razer in a unique position among Windows PC builders. He saw it at a minimum inheriting the title Voodoo had before HP bought it, taking over the high-end gaming PC space. Razer's new Blade notebook also represented a rare instance of a Windows PC developer striving for the level of quality from Apple, paying attention to the experience of the product, not simply chasing specifications.

27.03.2012 5:00 Uhr

Could Google Instant suggest you out of a job? According to one Japanese man's claims, that search algorithm is precisely what landed him a pink slip and permanent spot on the unemployment line. The Kyodo News Agency is reporting that a string of unflattering searches performed by the plaintiff's former employer allegedly linked him to a host of illegal and unflattering behavior, leading to his eventual termination. Baseless claims of a paranoiac? One Tokyo court doesn't think so, as the search giant's been issued an injunction that temporarily bars the use of autocomplete in the country. So far, Mountain View's refused to bow down to the o

27.03.2012 4:00 Uhr

The bad battery indicator in the new third-generation iPad has been further tested by Dr. Ray Soneira, the president of DisplayMate and the leading scientist testing and explaining the technology behind the new iPad's doubled resolution and advanced "Retina Display" screen, as well as one of the first to uncover that the battery indicator falsely reads "100%" more than an hour before it is actually fully charged. He has since clarified some of his findings.

A new Parks Associates study obtained early has given a rare glimpse into Siri habits on the iPhone 4S. Although talking to a small pool of 482 users, Parks told the Wall Street Journal that no more than a third of these were using it daily. The most common uses, which reached the one-third mark, were either making calls, sending texts or iMessages, and running searches.

So, imagine that you're Samsung, and you're looking to promote your double-SIMed Galaxy Y Duos smartphone. How to go about it? How about performing a cool light show on some dude's face? That's the approach of this spot brought to you by the Portugal wing of the hardware maker. The model in question reportedly had to sit still for "up to" three hours straight as his face and upper body were used as a canvas for the same sort of video mapping we've seen applied to the sides of buildings. The result is a little strange, a bit spooky and generally awesome, even if your Portuguese is a bit rusty. Check out the video af

27.03.2012 3:00 Uhr

The person who won Apple's contest to be the downloader of the 25th billionth app from the App Store was a Chinese woman named Fu Chunli from Qingdao, reports Chinese Mac site MICgadget. She became the lucky winner by downloading a free version of the Disney game Where's My Water? and received as a reward an iTunes gift card worth $10,000 US. The company invited Fu to the Beijing store to collect her prize.

Proposals for the future nano-SIM format were revealed on Monday, just days before the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) is scheduled to vote on designs presented by Apple, Nokia and RIM.

We love us some They Might Be Giants, and not just because the two Johns took the time to sit down with us for an episode of The Engadget Show last year. Of course, we're not the only ones out there with a strong appreciation for the fiercely original New York duo. When you've got a fanbase as geeky and devoted as TMBG's, you're bound to get some strange and wonderful tributes out of the deal. Take "Apollo 18+20: The IF Tribute Album," a collection of 38 interactive fiction games created to pay homage to the 20th anniversary of one of the group's most beloved albums. Ever wondered how "I Palindrome I" would play out, were

27.03.2012 2:00 Uhr

The Jawbone Jambox may soon be getting a smartphone app. The company has been surveying its customers to find out what features they would like most on their portable Bluetooth speaker. Most likely, the app would be developed for Android driven devices.

Research from an unreleased study found that some 87 percent of iPhone 4S owners use at least one of the features offered by Apple's Siri each month, lending evidence that the virtual assistant is a notable differentiator from competing devices.

The often-discussed but previously unseen Apple and Nokia nano-SIM proposals, along with RIM's, have been spotted through both the actual proposals to standards body ETSI as well as a live photo of a prototype. What The Verge saw of Apple's proposal, and a prototype developed by Oberthur Technologies, was simply the current micro-SIM pared to its minimum, with virtually no plastic around the main chip. Nokia has complained about this, as it has pointed to an ETSI demand that the new format can't be accidentally stuck inside a micro-SIM slot, which Apple's can if it's

Finally admitting more candidly that he had "violated" the trust of his audiences and had "exaggerated my own experiences" in interviews with journalists, monologist Mike Daisey laid out a formal apology on his blog in a post titled "Some Thoughts After the Storm." The post recognizes that audiences felt misled by the blurring of truth and "truthiness," though he does not address whether the show will go on.

Despite it's rocky start, we wouldn't blame you for being a little jealous of Sprint's tight integration with Google Voice. Well, the relationship between the two might not be exclusive for much longer. Vincent Paquet, Product Manager for Google Voice, told CNET in an interview that the web giant is actively talking to other carriers about forming a similar bond. Paquet didn't name any names unfo

That glow you see coming from the House of Commons in London may be the glow of new iPads. The BBC reports that a Commons Administration Committee has recommended a rollout of iPads and other tablet computers to save the British taxpayer money.
At present, every member of Parliament gets three desktop computers and two laptops for office use, so as you can imagine, things get expensive quickly. But with iPads for everyone, the committee says it'll be easier to get work done and to save paper.
Some Members of Parliament participated in a trial use of tablets, and the results were positive. Several different brands of tablets were used by 16 Members of Parliament and it was noted that the iPad was "ahead of the field in terms of functionality."

A new discovery within code for Siri has suggested that Apple is about to start a tie-in with ESPN for voice-guided sports search. iOS app writer Evan Coleman found that Siri now recognizes sports teams as whole voice tokens, or search elements, rather than breaking it up into individual words. He noted that ESPN had just recently posted a limited-access API for accessing its sports scores from an app, and that the company when asked was unusually non-committal on its answer as to whether plans were underway.

27.03.2012 1:00 Uhr

Game of ThronesHBO's hottest new series is back with a new season, and there should be plenty of action in all forms coming along with it. Whether it's through betrayal, all out warfare or political intrigue everyone is making a grab for power in the land of Westeros and of course -- winter is coming. If you're the only person who hasn't watched the show yet, there's a trailer for season two embedded after the break.(April 1st, HBO, 9PM) NBAWith the playoffs rapidly approaching we've got a slew of great games this week, including a finals rematch between the Heat and Mavericks, and a West coast battle between the Thunder and Lakers. We're finally getting to the part of the season where the games mean something, and the

Robotic pets are kind of kid stuff here in the US, but they're a big deal over in Japan, and here's one that takes advantage of the iPhone's popularity. The Smartpet is a robotic dog that "borrows" the iPhone as head unit. The body is mechanical, of course, but the head uses the iPhone's touchscreen (and even the camera) to control the dog's movement.
Not only does the touchscreen show over 100 different facial animations for the virtual pet, but apparently the included app will also learn to recognize your face and voice, and will recognize gesture movements through the iPhone's camera.
There's no word on availability for North America yet, and this one may not make it over here at all. It will be av

Have you linked your personal data to HTCSense.com's cloud? Did you even know that was possible? Well, tough luck Johnny-come-latelies because it's too late now, anyway, as that feature is destined to sunset at the end of next month. Users who'd previously opted-in for that remote storage have begun to receive notices via email regarding the company's plans to pull the plug on April 30th and have been urged to download and back up all pertinent info before it heads for the recycle bin. The transition is reportedly part of a service overhaul, with an enhanced consumer-faci